ordan, struck all in a
heap by his strange reception.

Cadet Douglass gasped.

"Jordan," he exclaimed contritely, "I'm the greatest ass in the
corps!"

"You must be!" exploded Dick's enemy. "But what was the cause
of it all?"

"Why, Jordan, you---you see-----"

"Who is Miss Bentley?"

"Jordan, she's Prescott's girl!"

"What?" gasped the other cadet, staring at his classmate.

"Fact!"

"Prescott's---girl?"

"Yes."

"Jove, a puppy like Prescott has no business with a superb girl
like that."

"All the same, Jordan, the fact will prevent you from knowing her."

"Now, I'm not so sure of that!" cried Jordan suddenly, with strange
fire in his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing," mumbled Jordan, suddenly recovering himself.

Then, under his breath, he chuckled gleefully:

"Miss Bentley is just struck on the uniform, of course. A girl
like that couldn't care for a misfit like Prescott. Well, he
won't be in the uniform much longer. I won't lose sight of Miss
Bentley. I'll find her again when Prescott is out of the uniform
for good!"

Now, aloud, he asked:

"Doug, do you happen to remember Miss Bentley's first name?"

"Larry," answered Cadet Douglass absently.

"Stop that!" cried Jordan almost fiercely.

"Oh, a thousand pardons, Jordan. I'm so rattled I don't know
what I'm doing or saying. The girl's first name is Laura. Peach,
isn't she?"

"Laura! That's a sweet name," murmured Jordan to himself. His
mind was now running riot, not only with plans to drive Dick Prescott
out of the Army, but also to win the heart of Laura Bentley.

"Hold on, Jord," begged Douglass, halting and leaning against
a post in the veranda structure. "Don't take me to your sister
just yet. Let me get my breath, my nerves, my wits back again."

"Take an hour," advised Jordan laconically. "You need it. Didn't
you know Miss Bentley was Prescott's girl?"

"Yes; but it had slipped my memory. It's mighty hard, when you
come to think of it, to remember the girls of so many hundreds of
fellows," explained Cadet Douglass plaintively.

Ten minutes later Dick and Greg appeared, greeting the ladies.
Mrs. Bentley assented to their going around to the north side
of the porch, whence they could look up the river to the lights
of Newburgh.

"We very nearly had an adventure, Dick," laughed Belle.

"Yes?"

"We very nearly shook hands with Mr. Jordan. It was Laura's quick
cry that saved me, just in the nick of